1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to coin-operated telephones, and more specifically, to control equipment within a coin-operated telephone set which guards against generating fraudulent coin tones.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Telephone company improvement programs in the last decade have resulted in a multitude of coin service innovations which serve customer needs and reduce operating costs. Illustratively, the programs have modified coin service from prepay to dial-tone-first operation and have provided free coin service for special numbers, such as the 911 emergency code. In addition, single slot pay stations have been introduced for flexibility in deposits, improved transmission, and reductions in vandalism and theft.
Despite the improvements achieved, telephone companies heretofore have not adequately solved the problems of fraud on coin calls and the inefficient and costly procedures for scheduling and collecting paystation coin boxes. Occasionally, the companies are subjected to fraud due to customer simulations of coin deposits by false ground start signaling and by counterfeit tones from so-called red box devices. The scheduling procedure has proven deficient because the telephone companies have inadequate information as to the coin box fill. High cost and inefficiency arise in collection arrangements because telephone companies utilize many precautionary measures to safeguard against theft following the removal of the coin box from the paystation by telephone company employees. The precautions are taken because the companies have insufficient accumulated data concerning the total amount of money in a collected box.
In view of the foregoing, it is apparent that a need exists for facilities and procedures which prevent coin call fraud and provide adequate data on coin deposits for enabling telephone companies to schedule efficiently and collect coin boxes at reasonable cost and without the necessity for burdensome integrity check precautions in the collection operations.